


Real Life

by icecreamchick45



Series: My Glee-Write (Get It, Like Re-Write) [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Because not doing that was dumb, But This Could Honestly Be Taken In Context of Show If You Pay No Attention to Season 4 of Canon, College, College Essays, Everyone is a Senior, Gen, I'm Gonna Try and Re-Write the Show From After Season 1, I'm Sorry, One Shot, Part of A Series But Can Be Read on Its Own and Still Understood, Please read, When I say College I Basically Mean Talk About College, i worked hard, season 3ish, this is too many tags, why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 10:13:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12909789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icecreamchick45/pseuds/icecreamchick45
Summary: Puck might not go to college, this upsets Rachel. Brittany and Santana work on college and sex. Finn is pretty sure he doesn't know this song.





	Real Life

**Author's Note:**

> This would be episode 3x05 of my Glee-Write series, but if you don't care about that. It can take place whenever you want it to before sectionals of season 3, taking into account that you forget a lot of the dumb things that happened that season. Such as: Shelby in general, any of the stupid new characters, Glee Club becoming two different teams, everyone only applied to one school, that Sam disappeared, extera. Please read and comment. I hope everyone enjoys. :)

Senior year was going to be flawless. They had another year to try and become national champions. This was the first year that they didn’t have to worry about the 12 people rule or that Figgins was going to shut down the club. Senior year was going to be epic and stress free.

“What!”

Or not.

“Six hundred words to say everything that a college needs to know about me, as well as being one hundred percent grammar perfect and being more creative than the other thousands of applicants. All done by November 1st!”

Rachel was unsurprised that Santana had failed to realize that deadlines for college applications were as pressing as they were. She was however slightly surprised at the shocked looks coming from the rest of the Glee lunch table

“November 1st?!? That’s so soon. Don’t these colleges know that school and stuff exists, how do we get that done on top of school work.”

Her poor naive Finn, thinking that this was not something that was given to them months ago. 

“You guys do realize that we’ve known the prompts since the end of Junior year. This isn’t exactly breaking news. In fact, I’ve had my own papers written since Freshman year, ready to print out and send at a moment's notice. As well as all of my supplementary essays for the schools that require it. Now, I feel we should get started on our song selection for sect-”

“Berry, you think that anyone else would have everything ready that freaking early? I still haven’t decided if I’m going to college.”

“Noah, of course you’ll go to college! It’s practically required in this economy.”

“Easy for you to say with your dads willingness to get you everything you could ever want.”

Before she had time to continue and argue this, Quinn stood up. “I think, we should all use this week to get everything for our after high school lives ready. Beyond Rachel, I can guess that most of us don’t have anything related to college done.”

“I have some stuff done for most of my applications, but I think we all need this week to focus on real life.”

 

“Then it’s settled, buckle down kids. It’s time to make college our bitch.”  
\----------------------

*GLEE*

\----------------------

“Hey Babe, so I have to start working on my college essays after school. But, do you wanna come over and make cookies for dinner? We can follow cookies with something a little sweeter.”

Santana had the biggest grin on her face as she walked down the hall with her girlfriend. Sex, sugar, and getting far away from this hell hole, life couldn’t get better than that. 

“Do you want me to bring the cookies, so we can get straight to the sweet lady times?”

Santana was wrong, life could always get better. 

“Where are you applying anyway? Would I need a plane to visit you, cause you know how I feel about flying?”

“I know, I know. Not after the fairies stole the bras out of your bag to make weapons.” The phrasing made Santana consider, “Britt, how far are you planning on going after school?”

Brittany’s smile faltered. “I was planning on staying here. I could help out at the Vet's office and stay at home. Besides, someone needs to be able to take over the Cheerios once Coach Sylvester gets assasinated.”

“What about college?”

“Applications are too hard for me. Plus, with my grades I doubt anywhere would let me in.”

The actual words themselves aren’t what hurt most about Brittany’s words. It was the simple way she said it, as if she was just replaying an order Coach had given them. It broke something inside of Santana, and she swore that Brittany would leave Lima if it killed her. 

“Let’s forget about the cookies or my college essay for tonight, I’m going to come over and help you with applications. I want to find you somewhere so that you can leave this god forsaken place.”

Brittany stopped and turned to face Santana. “Really?”

 

Santana nodded and put on the biggest smile she could manage, “I never want you to think that Lima is your only option. My girl deserves better than that.”

They hugged and Santana could tell that this was going to be a long night. 

\--------------------

Puck knew this conversation was going to happen, he just hoped it would have happened when it was too late and there was nothing to be done about it. Of course, like most things in life, it wasn’t going to go his way. The bell had just rung for the end of the day when Rachel finally approached him.

“Noah Puckerman, what do you mean that you won’t be attending college? It is a vital part of the process in becoming an adult.”

“I’m not going to college Rachel, and I didn’t know that I had to explain yourself to you.”

He was already done with this conversation and she had only said two sentences.

“You have to explain yourself to me, because I am your friend who cares for you. What is your plan anyway? Become a Rock Star?” He could feel the anger seeping from her, and could only just keep himself from sighing and rolling his eyes. “Are you going to become a Rabbi? What are you planning to amount to without a college degree?”

He had enough of this crap, “If I tell you my plan, will you stop badgering me about college?”

After what looked like careful consideration, she nodded. 

“My mom can most likely afford to send me to college or my little sister. Sarah has a chance of being a freaking doctor or something, she has a much better chance than me at doing something meaningful with her life. So, I’m going to pass on college and see if I can get a real job after high school, not just cleaning pools.” Puck let out a hard laugh, “Maybe Kurt was right all along and I am going to be working for him one day, or at least his dad at the auto shop. Now if you don’t mind, I have to get to football practice.”

And with that, he left Rachel standing there in the hall. 

\-------------------

“Finn, we got a major issue.”

Crap. Did he forget something important? It wasn’t her birthday. It wasn’t their anniversary. It wasn’t their breakup anniversary. It wasn’t their second anniversary. Maybe… no, it wasn’t one of her dads birthdays. Maybe, it was his birthday? 

“Finn, are you listening to me.” She had her hands on her hips and a sexy/disappointed look on her face. Although, she didn’t have to try very hard for the sexy thing. 

“Uh… what?”

“I was trying to tell you that we have a situation going on with Noah.” 

Oh, good so this wasn’t an issue with their relationship.

“He plans on not going to college, because he says that only one of the Puckerman's can go and he’s going to sacrifice himself for that.”

“Well, his mom always used to talk about how difficult it would be once the kids went off to college, but I just figured that she just ment in an empty nest kinda way.”

“Noah needs to believe that he can achieve just as much as the rest of us, and I have the perfect song to show that we are never going to give up on him.”

Which was when she produced sheet music out of her bag and-

“Rach, are you sure this is the way you wanna go about this.”

“Absolutely, now help me practice. Once I have this down, I guess I’ll have to reward you for helping me.” 

She licked her lips and all thought of defending his friend’s choices were gone. Finn hoped this would be a long night.

\--------------------

“So, we’ve narrowed it down from fifty possible future career options to 7.”

“I still think that I could have been a pretty fantastic hooker.”

“Britt, considering we’re dating that would just be me paying you whenever we have sex and I don’t have enough money for that...“ 

Santana was honestly amazing, she helped Brittany narrow down what she was going to do with her life. Her girlfriend also showed Brittany how to answer questions online, turns out you can’t talk your answers at the screen.

“San, you are honestly the bestest girlfriend anyone could ever ask for.” 

That made Santana’s cheeks turn a redy-picky color. Brit liked that color, she wanted to see if it could go darker. 

“In fact, let's put this down for another day. I have a song for you.”

“Are you sure your parents won’t come home,” Santana said this as she put her laptop, notepad, and pens in her bag at a really fast speed.

“Don’t worry, they went to Pittsburgh for the next two weeks. Something about wanting to see penguins and getting abducted by pirates.” Her parents were weird. “And my sister is sleeping over at her friend's house.” She may or may not have said that her house had roaches in it to keep her sister away. 

Santana bit her lip, she looked really hot doing that. “You said something about a song.”

With that Brittany went into it:

“I lived my life in shadow /Never the sun on my face /It didn't seem so sad, though/I figured that was my place /Now I'm bathed in light/Something just isn't right 

I'm under your spell/ How else could it be/ Anyone would notice me?/ It's magic, I can tell/How you set me free/Brought me out so easily 

I saw a world enchanted/ Spirits and charms in the air/I always took for granted/ I was the only one there/But your power shone/ Brighter than any I've known 

I'm under your spell/ Nothing I can do/ You just took my soul with you/ You worked your charm so well/ Finally, I knew/ Everything I dreamed was true

You made me believe!

The moon to the tide/ I can feel you inside/ I'm under your spell/ Surging like the sea/ Pulled to you so helplessly/ I break with every swell/ Lost in ecstasy/ Spread beneath my Santana tree

You make me believe!

You make me com-plete/ You make me com-plete/ You make me com-plete/ You make me”

By the end of the song, they were both in Brittany’s bed. Her girlfriend was the best.

\----------------------

Rachel had a surefire way to get Puck to believe in himself enough to at least consider college. He just needed to believe that he was worth it and that his friends cared about him enough to see him succeed. During Glee, Rachel made it known that this was true. 

She looked around and saw everyone was there. Perfect! 

“Mr. Schue, I have something to say.” 

“The floor is yours, Rachel”

“Oh god, I thought she was giving us the week before we started to learn new songs. I’ve got essays to write.”

“Relax, Artie. This is probably just one of her I-am-better-than-you-and-here's-how talks.”

“That’s honestly worse.”

“Fellow Glee Clubbers, it has come to my attention that someone in this club isn’t even considering college. While it isn’t my place to judge, I feel that they must at least consider their options before going down this road.” 

She could see some people rolling their eyes at her, and she could not care less. This was a message that she needed to spread. 

“So, I have decided to dedicate this song to prove that we support you and are here for you.”

With that she went into her breathtaking, acoustic rendition of a classic:

“We're no strangers to love/ You know the rules and so do I/ A full commitment's what I'm thinking of/ You wouldn't get this from any other guy”

“Is Rachel rick-rolling us?” Mike asked Tina.

“I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling/ Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up/ Never gonna let you down/ Never gonna run around and desert you/ Never gonna make you cry/ Never gonna say goodbye/ Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you”

“Oh my god, Rachel is rick-rolling us?” Tina replied

“We've known each other for so long/ Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it/ Inside we both know what's been going on/ We know the game and we're gonna play it/

And if you ask me how I'm feeling/ Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up/ Never gonna let you down-”

“What the hell! You said that you would stay out of it if I told the truth, and there you go and freaking rick-roll me.”

Rachel might not have anticipated that Puck didn’t want to be not-so-subtly called out in Glee club. She only thought of this as she watching him storm out of the classroom, as she stood there shocked.

\---------------------------

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Kurt looks across the table at his stupid brother. 

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Can you stop that?”

“Stop what?”

“The asinine pencil tapping!”

“I’m not pencil tapping!” 

“Finn, I can see you doing it”

“Maybe, you’re the one doing it.”

“Do you think before words leave your mouth or does it just come flowing out?”

“... I know you are, but what am I.”

“Wow, great comeback. Truley remarkable.”

“Look, I have a lot on my mind. I’m kinda freaking out.”

“Talk with me, I need a break from writing.”

Finn sighed, “Puck and Rachel are fighting because of this whole college thing which sucks because they both complain to me about it. I guess not really processing that I’m dating Rachel and best friends with Puck. I’m currently in hell.”

“I’m guessing that the situation wasn’t helped with Rachel’s solo today.”

“I really wish she would have picked a different song, now Puck feels like she’s making fun of him. While she, doesn’t understand why he doesn’t appreciate her ‘help’.”

“Did you try to try to convince her to change the song?”

“Uhhhh…”

\-------------------

Finn’s mind went directly to a flashback of the epic makeout session, from right after Rachel and Finn practiced her solo. 

It was so erotic that they didn’t even notice when her dads came home, they were so entranced by each other.

\-------------------

Kurt was positive that Finn was flashing back to sex, or at least passionate kissing. The thought made Kurt want to text Blaine, but he refrained. He was going to be a good brother.

“Finn.”

“Uh ya… But, you know how she gets once her mind is onto something. Nobody can convince her otherwise.”

“Fair enough, just try and keep a level head. This should all be over by the end of the week. And speaking of things that I would love to end, how far with your paper have you gotten? You’re trying for a sports scholarship at Ohio State, right?”

“Or at least a spot,” Finn confirmed. “But it’s really hard, I don’t really know what they want.”

“Well the first thing they’re probably looking at is diversity. Most colleges want to show that a variety of different students are coming to their school.”

“Great, they want diversity from a straight, white guy in a town of straight, white people.” Finn started to bang his head against the table.

“There’s more than just diversity of race or sexuality or disability… there is also diversity of thought or diversity in experience.”

“I’m a straight, white guy who always just goes with the flow and hates confrontation. I was the last person in Glee Club to realize something was seriously wrong with the Karofsky situation, and I was living with you at the time.”

“But that’s not all they are looking for, they want to see how you think and if you have overcome any adversity or if you have been a leader at anything. They want to see why they should pick you above everyone else applying to the school.” 

“Then it sounds like it should be easy for almost everyone in the club to write the stupid essay besides me. Everyone has overcome many obstacles while I have had it really easy in comparison.” Finn still hasn’t stopped slamming his head on the desk. Maybe Kurt should get him a pillow or something. 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something amazing, just pick up your pencil and write whatever comes to your head.”

With a sigh, Kurt saw Finn pick up his pencil and get to work.

\----------------------

Finn might be hallucinating. He was standing in basketball shorts and a muscle shirt. When he looked to his right he was Artie, Tina, Mike, Mercedes, Kurt, and Quinn. To His Left, saw Santana, Sam, Brittany, and Blaine. Everyone was dressed in athletic clothes and everyone was standing still in a straight line. 

“Guys, do you know where we are?” He said right before he was shushed by everyone. 

Everyone, including him, started singing at the same time:

“God, I hope I get it./ I hope I get it./ How many people does they need?”

Then the guys and girls slipped off into different harmonies for a couple of lines. What the hell was happening?!?

Boys: “How many people does he need?”

Girls: ”God, I hope I get it.”

Boys: “I hope I get it./How many boys, how many girls?”

Girls: “How many boys, how many...?”

Suddenly, everyone came together for the next verse.

Look at all the people!/ At all the people./ How many people does he need?/ How many boys, how many girls?/ How many people does he...?

Finn was pretty sure he had never even heard this song before, yet alone knew all the words. 

Then Mercedes came out to sing the next verse on her own:

I really need this acceptance./ Please God, I need this./ I've got to get this acceptance

Then the most bizarre thing happened. Everyone started doing a dance that he had never learned before and was amazed that he knew. Finn was pretty sure that he was really high right now, that was the only way to explain this. 

After the dance sequence was over, everyone was back at it again with the song he still didn’t know:

God, I really blew it!/ I really blew it!/ How could I do a thing like that?/Now I'll never make it!/ I'll never make it!/ They don't like the way I look./ They don't like the way I sound./ They don’t like the way I...

And now Finn has just decided that he is really high and to go with the flow, because he is right back in with another dance sequence before another verse to the still unnamed song only this time his friends would randomly interrupt in the background with veres of their own.

 

Everyone: God, I think I've got it./ I think I've got it./ I knew they liked me all the time./ Still it isn't over.

Brittany: What's coming next?

Everyone: It isn't over.

Mike: What happens now?

Everyone:I can't imagine what they wants.

Girls: I can't imagine what they...

Everyone:God, I hope I get it!/ I hope I get it./ I've come this far, but even so/ It could be yes, it could be no,/ How many people do they...?/ I really need this.

Quinn, Tina, and Sam: My disappointment is gone.

Everyone:Please, God, I need this job.

Santana, Artie, and Blaine: I knew I had it from the start.

Everyone: I've got to get this school.

Once Finn was almost sure the song was over, it him once more with a Kurt solo verse:

Who am I anyway?/ Am I my resume?/ That is a picture of a person I don't know./ What do they want from me?/ What should I try to be?/ So many faces all around, and here we go./ I need this school, oh God, I need this school.

And with that, Finn’s weird high was over.

\---------------------  
“Finn... Finn… FINN.”

Finn bolted up as if someone electrocuted him. 

“You fell asleep. If you’re that tired just go to bed.”

Kurt was pretty sure that his brother had smoked some of Puck’s pot. 

“Nah, man. I’m good.” Finn froze, “What are you listening to?”

“A Chorus Line, why? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost, I’m guessing weird dream or Puck’s special brownies.”

“Weird dream, I guess. But, I think I’m good now.”

“Good. Because I never want to see a face of terror that dramatic for when you see that I’m listening to showtunes. Mellencamp on the other hand-”

\----------------------

“Noah Puckerman, you will talk to me.”

Silent treatment may be childish but, it was still highly effective. 

“Stop being a child and answer me… Sex… Boobs… Vulgar Words… Noah, just talk to me. I refuse to accept that you’ll stay mad at me forever just because I care about your future.”

“I told you what I was doing with my future and you didn’t listen to me. Why should I care about what you have to say now.”

Fine, he broke but she had been trying to get him to speak for 20 minutes out of a 47 minute study hall. He was going to settle this so that this wasn’t how lunch was going to be as well. 

“Finally, he speaks. Look, I know that you resent my song choice. But, I just care about you. The only people that I have as friends are the Glee Clubbers. I want to make sure that everyone goes above and beyond in life. And that everyone aspires to everything that we all want in life.”

He sighs, he hates being guilt tripped. It sucked that he can’t dismiss it, because unlike some people who try this, he is almost positive that Rachel Berry doesn’t know how to lie. For all her flaws, he grants her that. 

“Look, I know what I want in life. I want a simple life. I want a wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. As much as everyone bitches about the fear over being a ‘Lima Loser’, I’ll be happy here. Plus, I like working on cars and I’m friends with Kurt now that we’re all past the bullying crap I pulled. If working at Hummel Tires and Lube is all I amount to in life, I’m happy with that.”

Rachel was quiet for a moment, a rare thing for her, before she finally spoke. “Noah, I have no doubt in my mind that you would be happy with that. But, once everyone leaves for college, who will you be friends with. Like I said, I care about everyone enough to make sure everyone is happy, and I can’t believe you’ll be very happy working with a bunch of middle aged men. You’ll miss people you’re own age, and more importantly you’re friends. Plus, when Mr. Hummel dies the property will go to Kurt. Which Kurt will feel obligated to run, only he won’t be there to run it. Meaning someone needs to be there who knows how to run it. You could be that guy. So, I know you probably didn’t ask for this, but I talked with Coach Beiste. She apparently has a couple of favors that she was able to pull. She said that if you can keep your GPA up to a 2.5, she’ll pull some strings and, if you can get in, you’ll get a full scholarship to Ohio State. You can live with Finn and not have to settle down right after High School. What do you say?”

Puck wanted to say something. Maybe it was about how Rachel should have kept her mouth shut. Maybe it was about how college wasn’t for everyone, why did she think it was for him. Maybe it was about how Finn would feel if he learned that his girlfriend had gotten his best friend an athletic scholarship but not him one. Maybe it was even to say thank you. 

But he just leaned in and hugged Rachel, catching both of them off guard. 

“I know I already have a little sister, but you’re like the little sister that I’ve made out with before.”

That caused her to laugh: good. Then he let go, and got out a pen and paper. He had a college essay to write. 

 

\---------------------

By Friday, Santana was done with her college essays. She had also managed to help Brittany finish hers. Let’s just say, sex was a wonderful incentive. 

“I’m assuming that everyone is mostly complete in writing out applications.”

Smug Berry looked around the table to see everyone nodding. Good, even if it sucked when Berry was right, it was good that everyone could focus on the more important things now that stupid real life was out of the way. 

“So, what cities and/or states are you all applying to?”

Mike was applying to the Ivies and UC Berkeley. Tina and Artie were applying to schools in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and NYC. Blaine had applied to schools in Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, and Yale. Sam, Finn, and Puck had all applied to schools in Ohio. Kurt and Mercedes only applies to schools in NYC or LA, with Kurt also applying to one school in Paris on a whim. Quinn had applied to every Ivy League, as well as any school she could find that had an acceptance rate of below 20 percent. 

Rachel had applied to every performing arts program in the country. You heard her right, if a school had a recognizable performing arts program, Rachel applied. God, that must have cost upwards of a thousand dollars. 

“I applied to schools in New York City or LA.” Santana also applying to Ohio State as a safety, but nobody else needed to know that. 

“I applied to schools in New York City, LA, Ohio, Florida, and New Orleans.” When she heard that she whipped he head at Britt. Why would she apply to schools in New Orleans? And Florida? Florida is pretty much worse than Ohio? Santana didn’t apply to a single school in either place. She thought they had applied to all the same schools. Santana thought she made sure of it.

“Well guys, a toast to the New Directions going off into… uh…. new directions.” Everyone put a drink up at Finn’s toast. She was sure that her and Britt would be fine. What were the odds that Britt would even wanna go south…

**Author's Note:**

> Songs Used:  
> I Hope I Get It-A Chorus Line (Glee Club minus Rachel and Puck)  
> Under Your Spell-Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Brittany)  
> Never Gonna Give You Up-Rick Astley (Rachel)


End file.
